Airwolf/Headscratchers

• It's always bugged me that the solution to so many varied problems was a supersonic helicopter.
• A supersonic helicopter. Really?!? Suspension of disbelief can only go so far.
  • Frankly, if you can't swallow at least that much, this show isn't for you.
  • Frankly, I can't believe that if they could BUILD a supersonic helicopter, that they would stop at only ONE.
    • No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup. Apparently Dr. Moffett, as part of his 'get them to pay for the R&D for this thing, then steal the finished product and sell it to someone else' plan, corrupted all his schematics and notes except the ones stored in Airwolf's own onboard computer when he went rogue. Although the government does build an Airwolf 2, and the HX-1, later on in the series, thus implying that they eventually reverse-engineered his notes. Then the series ends before we find out if they're going to build any more of them, especially after Airwolf blew them both up while they were still in testing.
• The helmet visors- why aren't they worn in all combat situations?
  • Because then you wouldn't be able to see their faces. The helmets were specifically designed to be unlike normal fighter pilot helmets precisely so the actors could, well, act in them. If the visors were down all the time, it would defeat most of the point of hiring good actors, and they could have just gone with planks like Hasslehoff and the guy in Street Hawk.
    • Or the Power Rangers, who do not emote so much as bob their heads in kinda-sorta synch with the voice track.
  • I'm aware of the OOC reason, but IC it's just stupid.
    • Of course it's stupid IC. Pretty much any point raised in the "It Just Bugs Me" section isn't going to have a good IC reason. Yes, clearly Hawke should have dropped his visor everytime The Lady went to combat mode, otherise he's launching missiles based on guesswork. Although, I suppose it's possible that there's a secondary targeting display on the pilot's control panel that we never saw.
    • Or a HUD, which is how stuff like that was launched pre-helmet mounted sight.
• If I remember correctly, isn't this helicopter stolen from the government and hidden in a mountain so Hawk can use it for his own purposes? Why is it that the government can't find this helicopter, which would presumably show up on radar all the time? And if they really want it back, do they just keep supplying him with spare parts? Maintaining a high-tech helicopter can't be easy or cheap, either.
  • You don't remember correctly. Airwolf's inventor stole it from the government. Hawke stole it back, and ransomed it for his POW brother, whom the government denies having any knowledge about. It's acknowledged in dialog that Hawke is simply desperate and his plan has a much larger chance of getting him thrown in federal prison with the key thrown away then actually working. Archangel sets up their working arrangement, where any information ever found on his brother will go straight to Hawke, while Hawke uses Airwolf to get things done for the FIRM. Archangel specifically says this is the only way the FIRM can actually use Airwolf because taking it back means having to turn it over to the Department of Defense, since the FIRM isn't allowed to develop explicit military assets (Arhcangel's original plan was to give Airwolf over to the military in exchange for the development cost and the first five produced, but this didn't work out since the prototype was stolen.) He uses this fact as leverage to keep the FIRM away from Hawke, and he keeps Hawke supplied with ordinance and whatever parts needed for Airwolf's upkeep. In point of fact, other parts of the government that Hawke has no such deal with are often a problem for all of them. Also, Airwolf is hard to spot on radar, (although in reality, it's impossible to really design a stealth helicopter on account of the rotors) has an entire suite of electronics for e-warfare, and even if picked up, is just one little blip in the entire sky.
    • Yeah, it seemed obvious to this troper that Archangel knew exactly where Airwolf was, and could have had any number of hotshot pilots steal it, if that had been his goal. Letting Hawke "blackmail" him into providing him with a plausibly denial way of using Airwolf for his own purposes was a case of getting himself thrown into the briar patch. In return for fuel, spare parts, and the occasional nugget of info on Hawke's brother, he gets situations handled for him by a guy he can eventually throw to the wolves if necessary.
      • There's also room for Alternate Character Interpretation here, it's just as easy to see Archangel as more or less on the level. From the way they interact in the premier, it's obvious he and Hawke go way back. The distrust Hawke has for him could have more to do with not knowing how much their friendship protects him from the demands of Archangel's job rather than being caused by specific incidents. Since it's obvious that Archangel could double-cross Hawke and find Airwolf if he really wanted (if nothing else, he could just use the satellite from the season one finale without warning Hawke like he did when someone else used it) the difference between the views is basically how far that protection goes. Hmmm, might be worth putting this on the main page...
      • In the episode where Dom was taken hostage, String has to take Archangel himself out to be Airwolf's weapons officer (this is before Caitlin joined the cast). While he obviously blindfolded Archangel for the trip out to Airwolf's site, nothing stopped Archangel from just shooting String in the back once he got there and going 'Fuck you and fuck Dom, I'm flying this thing back myself'.^[1] Clearly Archangel does not actually want to betray String and steal the chopper back, even if he could.
    • There were several episodes where radar did pick up Airwolf. They just couldn't figure out how something smaller than a jet could move so fast.
• The entire show is built on the facts that A) Airwolf is the most advanced helicopter on the planet, B) all of the vehicle plans are stored exclusively in the on-board computers of Airwolf itself, and C) the man who designed the thing stole it. So, when they finally succeeded in building Airwolf II (a.k.a. Red Wolf), why did they store the plans for Red Wolf exclusively in Red Wolf's own onboard computer?
  • Only Moffet and Winchester knew about this ability of the original. In Airwolf II, it's marketed as an additional security feature.
    • As noted by Hawke, the Red Wolf's "creator" apparently didn't design the weapons system, given that he kept missing.

Stringfellow Hawke: The is no way that you designed Airwolf's weapons, with aim that bad!
Stringfellow Hawke, after the Red Wolf's "creator" misses and ends up shooting the mountainside: You just killed a mountain!

• Several episodes introduced other helicopters that were claimed to be as good, or even better, than Airwolf. We don't get to see them, because Hawke keeps blowing them out of the sky. Of course, the helicopters may be better, but it's still up to the pilot to actually fly the thing, and String is the best pilot there is so there we go.
• So... if a bullet hits a tiny protuberance at the front of the helicopter, it blows up. There are plenty of times Airwolf was shot at with machineguns. Not one has ever hit that spot? Seems unlikely.
  • In addition to hitting exactly the right spot, you also have to hit it at exactly the right angle. It's hard enough to do that deliberately, let alone accidentally.

1. ↑ Remember that while a pilot of String's skill level, or personally trained by him, is necessary to fly Airwolf in turbo mode any helicopter pilot can still fly it in normal mode.